by Robert Byers
The screen went blank and the ship moved into docking procedures, even the patrol ships moved away from the Integrity, which seemed odd to the Admiral who normally was a strict by the book procedural man. He knew that this was one thing he’d have a conversation with the Administrator about. That and the threat of the rebels gaining more of a foothold in Imperium controlled space.
The Admiral got up from his chair and made his way to the lift, so he could reach the brig before they docked completely. “XO you’ve got the bridge.” He took the lift deep down into the bowels of the ship and headed for the brig to meet with the rebels that his crew had captured, even though he didn’t want to he would keep his word and ensure they were left along. But only if they answered his questions.
He arrived at the cells with almost a half hour until they started to dock with the Orion, that meant he had plenty of time for them to answer some questions. He stared at all seven of the prisoners from the bow of the ship. There was another cell holding three more from the aft. And security personnel in the medical bay with two who were just wounded, one in critical condition and Dr. Dvorak wasn’t sure the patient would survive.
“Who else is with you?” he demanded of the first prisoner.
The man spit at the Admiral and sneered. “I’ll never tell you you gutter trash.”
“What is your name?” the Admiral asked him, and again the man spit at him. The others in the cell followed suit and refused to even look at him. Turning around the admiral said “Get the information out of one of them. I only need one alive to verify the information is accurate.” And left.
He could hear the moans of the other captives as they watched one of the soldiers walk closer to the one who’d refused to answer. He knew it meant the man would be tortured, horribly and probably would die from it. He didn’t want to think about it right now because he needed all the information he could get so they could stop the terrorists that were killing the loyal Imperials. And he would get that information by any means necessary.
It wouldn’t be long until the man cracked or one of his compatriots did and then Harcourt would have all fo the information he needed. And then he could make sure the terrorists were dealt with, permanently.
His com beeped and he pressed a finger to his era to hear who was trying to get a hold of him. “Go ahead.”
“Sir, we are docked and ready to begin repairs. Administrator Rhua is extending an invitation for you to meet with him for a dinner.
He rolled his eyes more, it was time to deal with a kiss ass that he would end up wanting to stab. “Very well, I’ll meet him in a few minutes.” He started towards the bridge and stopped, pressed the com at his ear and spoke. “XO, apparently that boot licker wants to have a dinner to honor that we are here or some other such nonsense reason.”
“Please tell me you’re leaving me on board with the rest of the crew.” She responded, and he couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.
“Sorry, but you’ll be coming with me. Give the order for the men to have liberty, but in shifts and anyone who’s one minute late returning had better be dead because if they aren’t, they’ll be AWOL. Meet me at the hatch in five.”
He ended the call and walked back tot he hatch that led to the outside, ready to be done with the day. And it was only going to get worse.
Chapter 8
Admiral Harcourt walked through the airlock and down to the floor of the space station with his XO by his side. There were lights all around and a small transport truck that would take them where they needed to be. The vehicle was all robotic, no driver was necessary and was designed like the ancient auto Rickshaws that would drive either one or two people around and have three wheels.
Executive Officer Doyle leaned close and whispered, “Sir, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Not really, but when there’s a boot licker like Rhua it’s proper form to let them feel like they matter and that their job is important. Whether or not we feel it is.”
She nodded and frowned it wasn’t in her to be fake to someone just because they thought officers were supposed to get special treatment. It galled her to be honest and she hated it because that was the one thing she saw wrong with their world, everybody thought they were somebody.
It took almost twenty minutes of winding through the streets of the space station before they reached their destination. The Orion was one of those places where it wasn’t just a space station, it was its own world in a sense. There were storefronts on each street. Housing was abundant, and it didn’t look like some of the “classic” ancient Terran movies that were supposed to be about the future where people lived in tent cities and the government ruled from on high.
The Admiral wanted the trip to be over with, he hated the idea of coming to a station for repairs and rearming, but after the damage the ship took from not only the boarding parties cutting through the hull but also the asteroid that struck from the side without warning they were in serious need if the hull was expected to make it through.
The Rickshaw pulled up to the front of a government building, it was like the others around it in that it was all white. But this one had an addition the others did not. It had the black on white symbol of the Terran Imperium. Terra surrounded by stars and a laurel wreath around it to symbolize its glory.
The stations administrator practically ran from the building to get to their cart as quickly as his feet would take him. Harcourt wasn’t sure what the man’s nationality was, only that he was an annoying prick.
“Admiral, so good to have you visiting us. And this is your Executive Officer I take it?” the man asked as he bowed low. The man was only average height for a human and he was scrawny, if he wasn’t wearing the voluminous clothing, he was sure to be skin stretched tight over protruding bones. Even the man’s face was hollow. And he had a beard that hung down to his navel.
“Yes, this is my second in command, Erika Doyle. She will be accompanying us, and we hope to be on our way soon. We’ve got places to be.”
“Of course, of course. If you’ll just follow me, I’ve had my staff make some of the best food this station has to offer. I hope you’ll find it to your liking.”
—
“I can’t believe it. We actually get some shore leave! This is going to be great.” Ortiz was the most excited of the bunch and he knew while it wasn’t much it was something they didn’t get often.
“Just remember not to do anything stupid. This is technically an Imperial controlled station, but then so was the battleship that just got done attacking us a few hours ago.” Captain Sidonia cautioned him. She was no idiot when it came to shore leave, especially for a man who just celebrated his twenty-fourth birthday a week ago. But she still had to do her best to make him understand he needed to be safe and be smart.
“Damn Cap, you really know how to take all of the fun out of shore leave don’t you?” he asked her only slightly jokingly. He walked down the ramp with Walsh and Tiberius behind him. But there were two others who walked beside him that he was more interested in, Tegan Perry and Daisy Brown. Two of the four women in the second squadron.
“I say we use this time wisely. Let’s look for-” Tiberius began but was interrupted.
“Tattoos!” Ortiz shouted. “We should all get a matching tattoo for our squad.” The man was practically bouncing around with joy as he talked. He was so excited over the prospect of a tattoo that he didn’t bother to think about the fact not everyone would want one.
Tiberius looked appalled at his idea. “I am not getting one of those things. Why would I pay someone to hurt me?”
“Oh, the ones they do nowadays this far out, they don’t hurt.” Walsh interjected. Tiberius raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. “It might be possible that they allow you to be drunk when you go in for one and so you don’t feel the pain. I mean you’ll bleed a little more, but that’s all part of the fun I think.”
“You lot really are nuts. Aren’t you?”
“Eh, it’s a possibil
ity. I say what the hell we only live once so lets do it.”
Walsh put an arm around Tiberius and began walking him, Quintus, Ortiz and even Black, Tegan, and Jones down the ramp to the floor. There were plenty of shops around the docks, they knew there were multiple docks which also meant there were a lot of storefronts around.
They hadn’t walked more than a block before realizing what all was there, multiple restaurants catering to nearly every type of cuisine possible. From Terran to Venusian delicacies that most humans wouldn’t even think of eating.
There was a few bars, which was the normal stop for sailors on shore leave, they left those alone for now since not everyone was legal age, and it was a night in the brig for any underage sailors caught drunk. And they passed a legal brothel which had a few scantily clad women standing outside trying to solicit them, both the women and the men. Walsh and Ortiz looked at the women as if they were the sexiest women they’d seen in years, and it took all Tiberius and the girls had to keep them both away from the women, and whatever ill they might have encountered with them.
And then finally they found a tattoo parlor called the Snake and Needle.
“What should we get? Maybe old Terra with our squad number? Or how about we get something more personal and use the old Navy tattoos?”
“I’m thinking we just go in and see what the artist suggests, usually they have the best way of figuring out what a tattoo should look like.” Walsh suggested as they opened the door and walked in. They wondered just how many tattoos he had.
The artist was behind the counter finishing up with someone, the buzz of his needle was oddly soothing to Tiberius’ ears. He looked at the art on the wall that showed his portfolio and found some of the nicest art he’d seen in years. This was a man who still had hand drawn art whereas most of the art nowadays was computer rendered.
Walsh and Ortiz went to the artist once he was finished with his customer and they talked about what would be the best for the new squad. While they talked it out Tiberius looked at the work the man had on the wall and frowned. He never thought he would be one of those people who got a tattoo, he liked the idea of it, but actually doing it was a completely other thing.
“Tiberius did you hear him?” Ortiz asked from the other side of the parlor. When he looked back at the man with a confused look he sighed and said. “Alberto here says one of the most popular military tattoos is the image of Terra in the background and a set of wings framing it to symbolize our flight into space.”
“I don’t know…” Tiberius waffled, he didn’t want one because of the pain, but he wanted one because he knew it would look badass. But was it worth the pain to get it added to his skin? Tiberius had a decent pain tolerance, but he also didn’t like doing anything unnecessarily painful to himself, one of the reasons why he never before went into a tattoo parlor.
“How about this then,” Alberto began saying, “stay and watch your friends get their tats done, if you still think it’s too painful then you at least were here to see them get theirs.” The artist said, Tiberius knew he’d probably seen a million people like him that were afraid to get one. So, he agreed to stay, but he didn’t think it would make any sort of difference.
—
The Admiral and his XO sat down to a lavish dinner, one that really was something to show the station’s Administrator had gone all out for. It also made Admiral Harcourt wonder how many people were going hungry on this station while the man running it chose to waste this food on a visitor.
There was rotisserie duck with lemon, real red skinned potatoes cubed and cooked with asparagus and cilantro. Underneath the duck were peppers and onions cooked to perfection. And that was just one course of the four-course meal.
“You really didn’t have to go all out like this for us.” He said, trying to reassure the Administrator.
“Oh, it really was no problem. We have some of the best chefs in the known universe at our beck and call, and they love to cook so it’s rude not to let them pursue their passion.”
He was really up-selling their worth, Harcourt knew they weren’t the best chefs because he’d seen the best, he’d eaten with them and the slop these “chefs” put out was proof they were undereducated in the culinary arts, and in common sense.
It was time to get down to the brass tacks though, if the pleasantries didn’t stop soon they’d never get back to the ship before the morning. And he wasn’t going to play nice for that long.
“We need to speak about the repairs, mainly how much we are supposed to pay you, of course we’ll need an invoice for them so we can ensure the Imperium is able to pay you properly.”
“Oh, yes, that will be a a discount of course. Twenty percent for our brave soldiers protecting us from that dastardly Anvil group after those attacks.” Administrator Rhua said, eating as if it were nothing, meanwhile both soldier’s heads shot up.
“When was their last attack?” Admiral Harcourt asked him, worried they’d missed something while they’d been too far away from Terra.
“Hmm? That was about two weeks ago that we got the news here, they’d bombed buildings on both Terra and Chelnix IV.”
Admiral Harcourt and his XO looked at each other and realized their mistake with the prisoners right away. They were working off of old information, way outdated. And their prisoners knew it, which explained their smug demeanor.
“I’m sorry, is this important somehow?” The Administrator dabbed at his mouth as he stared at them, curious at how they reacted to his information.
“Very much so. I’m sorry Administrator Rhua, but this is an emergency and we need to get back to the ship.” Admiral Harcourt said as he began standing, ready to rush to the ship and hoping there was a Rickshaw parked out front still. “This food has been outstanding, the service was really five stars. And your company has been most informative, I really cannot stress how wonderful your inviting us here has been.”
“Well that’s…that’s certainly wonderful news. Is there anything else I can do for you Admiral?” he asked, obviously surprised and tripping over his words trying to get as much praise out as possible.
“Just see to it we get that discount you promised us, and I will recommend your station to all my fleet for whenever they are in the system.
They didn’t have to wait for the lift at all, since it was a private one and thankfully it was a smooth, quick ride to the first floor. Once they were inside the lift he pressed the com in his ear. “Lieutenant Crane, do you read me?” there was only the briefest of seconds before the communications officer responded. “Good, connect with the Orion’s newsfeed and find out everything you can about the Rising Anvil group, there should be quite a few articles about their terrorist activities. I need everything you can gather by the time we get back to the ship.”
“Aye, Sir, I’ll have it shortly.”
“See that you do, we will be there soon.”
Admiral Harcourt wasn’t sure if the Administrator had called for the Rickshaw to meet them or if it had been there the entire time, but as they exited the building, they both saw the motorized kart waiting for them with open doors.
“Return us to the ship.” Was all the Admiral had to say and the kart was off, speeding faster than it did getting them to the building.
The stores and houses passed in a blur as they made it back to the ship in record time and the Admiral practically shot out of the kart like a bullet as he raced up the ramp to the large ship. He wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible and if he could get the most recent news it would make the process that much easier.
“Lieutenant Crane do you have what I requested?”
“Yes, Sir. I have sent it to your tablet and have a copy to go over with you if you desire.”
“Meet us in the ops room.” He pressed the earbud again and said ”First Lieutenant Watson, meet me in the ops room on the double.”
“Yes, sir!”
Two sentries were stationed just inside the airlock and they jumped to atte
ntion as he raced past them without enough time to salute. He was a man on a mission and his XO was trying, and just barely keeping up with him.
The Admiral practically ran to the ops room and when he entered both Lieutenant Crane and First Lieutenant Watson were there standing on either side of the long rectangular table, they used for officer meetings. They saluted him, and the XO, got saluted back and told “At ease.” As the Admiral took his seat at the head of the table and the XO took hers to his right.
“Sir, I’ve found a great deal of unfortunate information about the Rising Anvil.” Crane pressed a button on his tablet and a picture appeared on the large screen at the back of the room. On the screen was a picture of a burning building, first responders trying to help people from the blaze, a mother holding her child as one responder put a fire out that spread to her leg. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie. “This is the attack on Chelnix IV that the Rising Anvil took credit for. They used a bot to carry an incendiary bomb into the building and detonated it once the peace officer tried to check the bag it was carrying. The building was a children’s hospital.”
He never looked up to see the horrified looks on his compatriots faces, he wasn’t able to stomach the scene much longer. “There was a confirmed death count of twelve children ages two and under, eight mothers and ten nurses.” He felt his stomach constricting as he read the information out loud. “The attack on Terra was even worse, I’m shocked we didn’t receive this Intel when we docked with the station to be honest.”
The Admiral thought about that for a minute, he was surprised as well because normally they would receive the news as soon as their systems connected with the nearest relay, but this time they had to manually connect to the relay in the station. He rubbed his chin as he pondered the thought and waited for Lieutenant Crane to continue.